CCT: Edwin Clark kicks over planned arraignment of CJN Onnoghen

NEWS DIGEST – The leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and South South Forum, Chief Edwin Clark, has said the forum will resist any form of harassment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen on assets declaration basis.

Earlier, Daily Trust reports that the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) will on Monday arraign Onnoghen over an alleged false assets declaration charges.

Speaking with Daily Trust on telephone on Saturday night, Clark said, “The news of the arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct tribunal (CCT) on Monday has come to us as a shock because there is nothing to show that this man has not been doing his job properly.

“There is nothing to show that he is corrupt; simply because they want to rig this election, they want to remove him to put somebody who will do their bidding after the election; otherwise, there is no basis for harassing the judiciary,” he noted.

Chief Clark said the minority people are being treated as slaves of the country saying, “Yesterday, it was the Acting Director General of the Department of State Security Services (DSS), Matthew Seyeifa who was removed and somebody who was retired was appointed to take his place.”

Re-echoing the Niger Delta regions stand to resist the arraignment of Justice Onnoghen, the former federal minister of Information and Senator of the Second Republic of Nigeria said: “We deserve some respect. So, we will resist this one, and I understand that our governors had meeting on this matter too and we will all come together.”